Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To

by David A. Sinclair

It doesn’t take studies and statistics to know what’s happening, though. It’s all around us, and the older we get, the more obvious it becomes. We get to 50 and begin to notice we look like our parents, with graying hair and an increasing number of wrinkles. We get to 65, and if we haven’t faced some form of disease or disability yet, we consider ourselves fortunate. If we’re still around at 80, we are almost guaranteed to be combating an ailment that has made life harder, less comfortable, and less joyful. One study found that 85-year-old men are diagnosed with an average of four different diseases, with women of that age suffering from five. Heart disease and cancer. Arthritis and Alzheimer’s. Kidney disease and diabetes. Most patients have several additional undiagnosed diseases, including hypertension, ischemic heart disease, atrial fibrillation, and dementia.18 Yes, these are different ailments with different pathologies, studied in different buildings at the National Institutes of Health and in different departments within universities.